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Sounders acquire Pappa through allocation process

Maco Pappa sc Heerenveen  Groningen

By DAN KARELL

When healthy, the Seattle Sounders attack could be scary good this season.

Just before the 4 p.m. deadline, the Sounders announced that they had acquired former Chicago Fire winger Marco Pappa through the allocation process, after he signed with Major League Soccer on Wednesday. Pappa left former club Heerenveen earlier in January.

By acquiring Pappa, the Sounders have dropped to the bottom of the allocation order.

“We’re excited. Marco Pappa is a player that did very well in this league with Chicago,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said in a statement. “We were pleasantly surprised with the opportunity and we’re excited to have Marco.

“He’s a wide player and we lost a little bit there with Mauro (Rosales) and Steve (Zakuani) leaving. He’s a left-footed player. He’s very dangerous on free kicks. He’s very good on his service of the ball from wide positions. He’s got a good shot from distance,” Schmid said. “He’s got experience in this league. He knows what this league is all about. He knows what the travel is in this league and I think he’s a guy who can help us.”

During his time previously in MLS with the Fire, the Guatemalan international made 116 appearances in regular season and post season play, scoring 26 goals with 17 assists. Pappa became an impact player in the 2010 season, scoring seven goals and adding five assists. In his final three seasons with the Fire, Pappa scored 21 goals and had 12 assists.

With the Sounders, Pappa joins Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Kenny Cooper, and Lamar Neagle as proven scoring options for the club this season.

The Sounders press release states that he is scheduled to meet up with the team in their preseason preparations in Tucson, Ariz.

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What do you think of these developments? How do you see Pappa fitting in with the Sounders? How dangerous can their attack be?

Comments

  1. Martins and Dempsey are the main guys. Neagle is a goal scoring threat that has to be accounted for. Cooper is on a downward slide but good for a small handful of goals. Opposing defense won’t have to worry themselves about cooper. Pappa was good in MLS before and improves the attack. Overall it looks like Seattle is as good on paper as they were at the end of last season. Lost ej. Lost Rosales and zakuani (to Portland) and improved a bit on defense.

    This is a strong team for sure but there potential is the same as last years team. Team chemistry may improve which will help. Sigi is the one constant on this team that underachieves every year. I think timbers will be te best in the west again and ssfc, la, and RSL will also be at the top.

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  2. Holy smokes! How many of you have ever even read this website before? Yes DPs count against the cap. Yes Marshall is near $350k this year and at $500k next year. Tht is why Columbus traded him. Yes, as has been reported multiple times, Pappa is demanding $300k. How bout Cooper? If other teams would just quit being stupid and sending Seattle allocation money, then the Sounders would self implode. Seattle is on a make it or bust plan this year. It’s not sustainable long term.

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  3. This helps Seattle a lot. I think they made a mistake getting rid of Eddie Johnson, but glad to see they’re adding players.

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    • Thats what she said 🙂 cheers. Its friday, enjoy. El paso loves soccer n we r basically not part of texas, more like new mexico.

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    • And looks who’s now got 1st pick in the allocation order: TFC. Looking forward to Jermaine Jones or some other tasty dish coming back to the League during the summer months.

      C.

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  4. I understand why Seattle had the pick. Stupid Chivas. I don’t understand how Seattle fits under the cap. 3 DP’s, Marshall at over $350k, Pappa at $300k, Evans is up there, I don’t know who else. The league needs to define this allocation money concept. I know selling a player can give you allocation money towards the cap. But say they sell Dempsy for 5 mil after the WC. So a 9mil buy gets them 5 million (or portion of) in allocation space. It’s means clubs can over spend on transfers because selling and thus allocation money is what gives them a better chance to win.

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    • Where did you get the 300k figure for Pappa? I doubt they’ve agreed to a contract with him yet. Also I thought Marshall was more like 250k-300k this year

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      • He already has a contract with the league. That is his salary (unless a DP). All the allocation process does is disperse player to whoever wants/can fit salary on their team.

    • Your answer is in your question. 3 DP’s. Designated players don’t count against the salary cap. That’s why it’s called the Beckham Rule 😉

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      • Actually, DP’s do count against the salary cap. Each DP is counted as a $375,000 cap hit. It’s just the additional salary that is off the books. They still take up about one million dollars of the Seattle salary budget.

      • That’s still half their budget on 4 players. Questionand a comment, where the hell is Chicago in the allocation process? And Chicago’s owners are the cheapest owners this side of Jerry Krauss.

      • Seattle traded E. Johnson and got reportedly max allocaton. They got allocation in the Moffat trade, Ianni and Hurtado trades. Seattle also saves 300K (Pappa’s salary by cutting Joseph). Seattle stil has about 250K to spend if they want. Evans is on retention funds (at ;least his salary increase). Alonso, since he is a DP, has his cap hit raise like 50K. So not sure whats hard to understand.

        They had near a million in allocation money thru trades.

    • You only get allocation after all costs of acquisition are repaid, and even then you only get a fraction of the proceeds. EJ is presumed to have netted max allocation, which gives Seattle significant room, plus they dumped salary by trading two highly paid CBs.

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    • Seattle has hella allocation money since they just sold Freddy Montero. It was a $10m transfer so they should have gotten $6.7m. With that kind of scratch fitting Pappa under the cap shouldn’t be too hard (even though all allocation can’t go to player wages).

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      • That’s rich, so when the Sounders sells a player the Sounders gets the bulk of the money BUT when the Sounders buy a player the money comes from the league?

      • Don’t worry, this is incorrect. Montero’s transfer figure isnt that high and the league limits allocation toward cap relief anyway. I’ve heard they are getting a couple million, but cant use it toward the roster, only other soccer expenses, such as running the academy or setting up a usl pro team.

  5. This guy is better than alonso but alonso is a.DP. I think thats funny, i just dont get how alonso is a DP when he sucks. If he was that good, ligamx would have taken him in a snap or at least go to a low european league like denmark or sweden.
    Crazy question, who has better fans and atmosphere, seahawks or sounders.

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    • I just don’t get why people make fools of themselves by making statements like, “Alonso sucks,” when even a glance at the stats would clearly show otherwise.

      Quick question: has Alonso ever shown any interest in playing in Mexico?

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      • Alonso has been voted MVP by his teammates four years in a row. He defected from Cuba to live in the USA. He is valued and respected by his teammates, Seattle fans, and anyone who truly appreciates a quality slide tackle. Why would he want to go anywhere else?

      • A piece of paper from Cuba and Alonso walks on to our national team. He and Bradley would be a great midfield combination. So, sucks? Hardly

      • Alonso is good but I don’t think he walks onto the usmnt. He would get his chance but he wouldn’t be a lock. Also I do think Seattle tied their hands a little bit by giving Alonso a dp sized contract. Then again shuffles through DPs like no other club.

      • I don’t deny your USMNT argument .. but Alonso -4 consecutive years team MVP- would be swept up by any team in this league. period. AS well as a few in Mexico. What do you do as a team? He’s the most consistent player, other teams obviously want him.. no need to gamble ie: BS Camilo situation

  6. Why bother having rules? Seriously. Oh don’t worry Seattle, we’ll buy your players for you so you don’t get hurt in the allocation order.

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